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NMSU regents clear way for Howard to be named provost

By Lindsey Anderson / landerson@lcsun-news.com

Posted:
06/20/2013 06:15:37 PM MDT

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New Mexico State University President Garrey Carruthers is granted a one-time waiver by the board of regents Thursday to forgo a national search for provost and to select from the remaining presidential finalists. The regents voted unanimously.

LAS CRUCES —New Mexico State University President Garrey Carruthers will begin negotiations with Dan Howard after regents on Thursday unanimously granted a one-time waiver of rules requiring a national provost search.

Howard aims to begin Aug. 1 if negotiations go well, Carruthers said.

"I think he is inclined to do this, but now we are down to the details," he said.

Carruthers asked the regents to forgo university rules requiring a national search for provost and instead let him choose from the remaining four presidential finalists.

Carruthers had previously insinuated his pick would be Howard, a former biology department head at NMSU and now dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado-Denver, and he confirmed previous Sun-News reporting that Howard was his choice after the Thursday regents meeting.

Saving time, money

Regents said forgoing the search would save time and money, responding to requests they move quickly to stabilize the university.

"Granting this one-time exception would allow for that to move forward," regent Javier Gonzales said.

A national search for the school's top academic official would cost between $120,000 and $125,000, Vice President for Finance Angela Throneberry told Carruthers.

Waiving the search cuts those costs while ensuring the provost pick was vetted in the national presidential search, regents said.

"Even if a search were chosen for provost, it can't possibly meet the level of search we just had," regent Ike Pino said.

Having a provost in place now is urgent, Carruthers said.

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A search would not have likely taken place until August or September with a provost beginning early next year, Carruthers said.

A provost needs to be in place before then to stem the university's falling enrollment and improve its research standing, he said.

Howard, 58, and Carruthers, 73, were two of five finalists considered for the NMSU presidency this spring. They were the only two candidates with previous ties to NMSU.

Carruthers' said Howard is a "great fit for NMSU" who has "an outstanding reputation as an academic."

Howard brings a wealth of research experience, something regents have said Carruthers lacked. The new president, meanwhile, has the government and leadership experience Howard is short on, they said.

Faculty were split on Carruthers' waiver request. Some said there could be no better provost candidate than Howard, while others expressed concern that a waiver would set a precedent for skipping established processes.

Community colleges

Carruthers also shared with regents his plans to align course credits throughout the NMSU system.

Many students have difficulty transferring credits from NMSU's community colleges to the university, a key problem Carruthers hopes to fix in the next two years.

He explained his faculty-led process for aligning business credits among the schools during his deanship, and plans to implement a similar process for the system as a whole, he said.

All campuses have seen enrollment decline, though largely because of a system-wide initiative to not double-count students. Previously, a student taking some courses at NMSU and some at a branch campus would be included in enrollment counts at both schools.

Many of the community colleges also reported low retention and graduation rates, especially as an improving economy draws potential students to jobs rather than studies.

Lindsey Anderson can be reached at 575-541-5462. Follow her on Twitter @l_m_anderson